22 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 79. 



has been practically reeugined, and, in order 

 that additional warmth may be secured, has 

 been lined with three thicknesses of felt. She 

 is taking out a very large supply of provisions, 

 a number of sledges, and two additional mem- 

 bers to the Franz Josef Land party. The Wind- 

 ward does not go out on this occasion for the 

 purpose of bringing Mr. Jackson home. She 

 will call at Vardo, when, after embarking sheep, 

 coal and live reindeer, she will sail direct for 

 Franz Josef Land. Four or five days after 

 leaving Vardo she will get into the ice belt, 

 which will probably be of 300 miles width. It 

 is hoped she will get through this in about a 

 fortnight, and it is anticipated that she will 

 communicate with the explorers at Cape Flora, 

 Franz Josef Land, on or about July 20th. As 

 soon as the Windward has discharged her cargo 

 she will leave Franz Josef Land with news of 

 the doings of the explorers, and as she is bound, 

 owing to the ice conditions, to sail before 

 August 20th, she may be expected in England 

 by the end of September. About this time 

 next year, if all has gone well, she will leave 

 London again to bring the explorers home. 



Prof. Wm. H. Brewer contributes to the 

 Yale Scientific Monthly an account of the ob- 

 servations he has made during the past 45 

 years on earth tremors at Niagara Falls The 

 heaviest vibrations were on either side and 

 near the Horseshoe Fall. They disappeared in 

 places in the soft shales below the limestone, 

 although they were evident in the harder beds 

 of limestone and sandstones interstrated with 

 the shales. Passing down the river along the 

 brink of the gorge, the vibrations rapidly de- 

 creased in intensity, becoming too faint to be 

 preceived between the two suspension bridges, 

 increasing again on nearing the rapids. It is a 

 popular belief of persons living near the Falls 

 that crystals are more common in the rocks there 

 than elsewhere in the same formation. But mac- 

 roscopic examination of limestones taken near 

 the Falls and those gathered a few miles away 

 did not show that the crystallization or the 

 texture of the rocks had been affected by the 

 jar of the cataract. As Prof. Brewer remarks, 

 it would be interesting to make the investi- 

 gation microscopically, and to study the jar of 

 the cataract with proper instruments. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS. 



The Oxford University Gazette for June 9th 

 contains the eighth annual report of the dele- 

 gates of the University museum (1895). It will 

 be remembered that two important changes 

 were made during that year, Mr. Francis 

 Gotch having succeeded Dr. J. S. Burdon-San- 

 derson as professor of physiology, and Mr. 

 Henry A. Miers having succeeded Prof. H. M. 

 Storey Maskelyne as professor of mineralogy. 

 The principal improvement in the museum 

 building during the year was the alteration and 

 fitting up of two rooms in the department of 

 medicine for a pathological laboratory, the cost 

 of the scientific installation of which has been 

 defrayed out of a sum of £500 presented by a 

 benefactor who does not wish his name to be 

 made public. Prof. Sanderson, the Regius pro- 

 fessor of medicine, on his resignation of the 

 physiological chair presented to the laboratory 

 instruments to the value of £105, made under 

 his direction during his tenure of the chair, and 

 paid for by him in excess of the departmental 

 income. The fine portrait of Prof. Burdon- 

 Sanderson, painted in 1893 by the Hon. John 

 Collier, has been presented to the department 

 by Mrs. Burdon-Sanderson. 



The June examination under charge of the 

 University of the State of New York was the 

 largest in the history of the department. 

 About 400,000 question papers were required, 

 all of which were printed in the department by 

 its own employees. The preliminary examina- 

 tions for professional and technical students, 

 and those for license to practice were so large 

 that the accommodations heretofore in use 

 proved insuflficient. Besides the 69th regiment 

 armory in New York City it became neccessary 

 to use two large assembly rooms in the New 

 York University building in Washington Square. 



In response to an appeal by the Chancellor 

 at the annual banquet of the alumni of Vander- 

 bilt University , twenty-six of those present made 

 subscriptions of one hundred dollars each to 

 endow a chair in the University. An endeavor 

 will be made to increase the amount to $50,000 

 within the next year. The annual address 

 before the University body was delivered by 

 Postmaster-General William L. Wilson. 



